KOREA:The head of the UN nuclear watchdog arrived in North Korea yesterday on a landmark visit, hopeful of making progress on closing its atomic facilities, but US officials sounded a more cautious note.
Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency have not visited North Korea since the isolated, impoverished state expelled it in late 2002 as a disarmament deal fell apart. It withdrew from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty days later.
Now, as part of an accord reached last month, North Korea has agreed to admit the watchdog, which will play a key role in verifying whether it meets a commitment to shut down the Yongbyon reactor at the heart of its nuclear programme.
"I hope we should be able to make some progress," IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei told reporters before leaving Beijing. He hoped his agency could "work closer with North Korea after many years of estrangement".
Under last month's deal, agreed at talks in Beijing between the two Koreas, the US, China, Japan and Russia, North Korea agreed to shut Yongbyon by mid-April in return for energy aid and security assurances. - ( Reuters )